DSCC poll: Warren and Brown tied

5/22/12 4:54 PM EDT

Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Scott Brown are tied in a poll that asked voters how they would decide if the election happened now, and the Native-American flap that's dominated headlines appears to have had little effect, according to an internal DSCC poll.

The survey of 502 likely voters, conducted by Harstad Strategic Research and obtained by POLITICO, shows Brown and Warren, the Democratic challenger, tied at 46 percent, including factoring in leaning voters.

The survey didn't ask a specific question about the Native-American issue. But it did ask a question this way: "Based on the things you’ve seen or heard about Elizabeth Warren in the past FEW WEEKS or so, are you MORE likely or LESS likely to vote for Warren for Senate?"

The "more likely" category was 39 percent, the "less likely" category was 38 percent, 14 percent said it would make no difference and 9 percent said they didn't know. The differential is a "plus-one" in Warren's favor.

The same question was asked about Brown, with 40 percent saying they were "more likely" to vote for him, another 40 percent saying they were "less likely" to, 13 percent said there would be no difference and 7 percent said they didn't know.

The survey was taken May 8-10, as the Native-American issue was just coming to a head in all the Boston papers and was gaining national attention. It's somewhat hard to say how it will play if it's, say, packaged in ads or direct mail down the road.

But the early indication is that what's playing out in the headlines isn't causing a major change in voter attitudes.

Meanwhile, on the presidential level, the undecided voters break down 44 percent for Obama compared with 4 percent for Mitt Romney — another reminder of why the Republican is basically forgoing his home state in the fall.